With New Powers, House Oversight Chair Bolsters Subpoena Authority

Government Executive | January 23, 2019

In a move that could bring more agency employees under the spotlight on Capitol Hill, Democrats now leading the House Oversight and Reform Committee have restored old rules on subpoena power to allow interviews by congressional staff whether or not a lawmaker is present. Confirming a Tuesday news report, a staffer on that long-contentious panel told Government Executive that “committee staff has always been allowed to conduct transcribed interviews without Members present, and they have conducted dozens if not hundreds over the past several years.” But when it came to depositions (under oath), “when Republicans came into the majority in 2011, they put in place a new rule that required Members to be present.” This has “proved unnecessary, so Democrats are returning to the previous rule,” the staffer said.

Spotlight

The virtual private network (VPN) has been a powerful tool in the network security administrator’s toolbox for decades, because it has provided a means for remote computers to communicate securely across an untrusted network such as the internet. Whether for branch offices communicating with headquarters (siteto-site), or an employee working from home (remote access), the VPN provided a secure point-to-point tunnel back to resources on protected networks.

Spotlight

The virtual private network (VPN) has been a powerful tool in the network security administrator’s toolbox for decades, because it has provided a means for remote computers to communicate securely across an untrusted network such as the internet. Whether for branch offices communicating with headquarters (siteto-site), or an employee working from home (remote access), the VPN provided a secure point-to-point tunnel back to resources on protected networks.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Snyk Achieves FedRAMP’s “In Process” Authorization

Snyk | February 08, 2023

On February 07, 2023, Snyk, a computer and network security company, announced "In Process" authorization from FedRAMP, i.e., the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program marketplace, which will work towards developer security needs. Currently working under the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sponsorship, it will get the support of federal, local, and state governments, as well as educational institutes with whom it has previously worked because of government compliance requirements. The authorization represents its support to organizations in the public sector for secured digital transformation. Even government leaders ensure the best technological innovation, cybersecurity remedies, and software developer productivity across their agencies, just as organizations do in the private sector. The departments of U.S. federal governments and agencies with FedRAMP Moderate Impact authorization will have direct access to Snyk's security solutions for strengthening proprietary code protection, detecting security issues, open-source dependencies, cloud infrastructure, and container images. It offers security for JavaScript, containers, Kubernetes, applications, open source, cloud, SDLC, coding, and Python with security checkers. Many industry-leading applications and security intelligence support it to add security expertise to almost every developer's toolkit. CEO of Snyk, Peter McKay, said, "Our progress towards FedRAMP authorization enables Snyk to help enhance our nation's overall software supply chain security, a vital need outlined in President Biden's recent Executive Order 14028." He added, "We are committed to helping government agencies evolve away from ineffective legacy cybersecurity approaches, allowing them to embrace a modern, developer-centric security mindset and experience the benefits of DevSecOps." (Source - Globe Newswire) About Snyk Snyk, a provider of developer security, empowers developers to build secure applications and digital platforms worldwide. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, it is dedicated to securing all the critical components, from code to the cloud, for enhanced developer productivity, customer satisfaction, revenue growth, improved security posture, and cost savings. Its security platform automatically integrates with developers' workflows and has purpose-built security teams to collaborate with the client's development teams. Many industry leaders like Salesforce, Revolut, New Relic, MongoDB, Intuit, Google, and Asurion, along with more than 2,500 customers worldwide, trust it for cybersecurity.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Planview Gets IL4 Authorization, Deploys VSM Solution to the Department of Defense

Planview | March 08, 2023

On March 07, 2023, Planview, one of the leading platforms for connected work from portfolio planning to delivery, announced it achieved Impact Level 4 (IL4) authorization in partnership with a Planview-certified partner, Rise8. In addition, Planview's Value Stream Management (VSM) solution, Planview® Tasktop Viz, is integrated with Second Front Systems' Game Warden platform for authorization. With Authorization to Operate at IL4, Planview can deploy its VSM solution to agencies within the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community. In an increasingly digital world, the federal government intensifies the demand to build and run software that helps its people and mission. However, as government agencies struggle to keep up with contemporary solutions, the pace of IT reforms and the impact of technology on operations is at a breaking point. As a result, innovative federal programs and agencies are implementing secure operating models to improve government service delivery. In the Forrester Wave™: Value Stream Management Q4 2022 report by Sarah Morana, Chris Condo, and Kara Hartig, Planview was named a leader on December 6, 2022, after the company acquired Tasktop in the previous year. CTO at Planview and Creator of the Flow Framework®, Mik Kersten, stated, “With our VSM solution authorized to operate at the federal level, leaders can now gain unprecedented visibility into transformation efforts. We are helping to close the digital divide between the public’s expectations of modern digital experiences and what technology services the federal government can offer when building on large, complex, and legacy systems.” He added, “Planview Tasktop Viz offers clear, simple visibility by enabling data-driven decisions, uncovering bottlenecks that result in delays in planning, and gaining actionable items upfront.” (Source – Business Wire) About Planview Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview is a connected work platform from portfolio planning to delivery. The company is committed to its mission which is to build the future of connected work, from ideas to impact. It supports its customers from the need to speed, from passion to progress, and from overhead to optimization, accelerating the achievement of what matters most to an organization. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model empower clients to provide innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences.

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGY,CYBERSECURITY

FedRAMP Data Security Authorization for InfoBlox’s BloxOne Threat Defense Federal Cloud

Infoblox | January 30, 2023

Leading cloud-first DNS management and security provider, Infoblox Inc., recently announced the U.S. Government FedRAMP Moderate Authorization for its BloxOne® Threat Defense Federal Cloud offering. This authorization allows organizations to operate their SaaS platforms with greater confidentiality, operational security, availability and integrity. The Infoblox BloxOne Threat Defense Federal Cloud is a part of BloxOne Threat Defense, which combines Cloud Services Portal (CSP), Dossier threat investigation platform, and Infoblox's Threat Intel Data Exchange (TIDE) to help public sector organizations scale and simplify security from the network core to the edge. Security analysts can investigate, and contextually rank threat events 3X faster with Infoblox's technology. Additionally, it gives them access to carefully curated and thorough threat intelligence, which they can incorporate into their current security technologies for network-wide protection. The U.S. Census Bureau sponsored the authorization. Infoblox team closely worked with FedRAMP Program Management Office to meet FedRAMP’s stringent guidelines for data security. The BloxOne Threat Defense Federal Cloud is compliant with FedRAMP’s security standards above the NIST SP 800-53 framework; this allows Infoblox to obtain digital transformation projects of federal agencies. Ralph Havens, President of Infloblox Federal, said, "Achieving FedRAMP authorization shows Infoblox's commitment to helping federal agencies digitally transform and secure cloud-first environments." He further added, "In reaching this significant milestone, we are delighted to now offer our federal customers a robust network security platform to augment our nation's cyber defenses against unrelenting security attacks from adversaries who wish to do us harm." (Source – CISION) About Infoblox Infoblox is a cloud-first networking and cybersecurity services provider. Its solutions enable businesses to make the most of their existing infrastructure investments and fully utilize the cloud to provide universally simple, scalable, and dependable network experiences. The Infoblox BloxOne® and NIOS systems are available on-premises and via SaaS, it lets operations teams standardize, accelerate and automate the delivery of cloud-native and data center network and security services from a single location.

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